Your Guide to PwC Elevate

PwC Elevate is a prestigious 1-3 day program designed for high-performing Sophomores (if in a 4-year program) and Juniors (if in a 5-year program). While the exact program logistics change year to year, selected candidates will do some mix of networking, team building, and above all have fun with the other students in your Elevate class.

Why should I apply for PwC Elevate?

Well, the first and most obvious answer is that it’s essentially an interview for an internship (which in turn is an interview for a full-time job). You have a significantly higher chance of securing a PwC internship offer if you participate in either a local or national Elevate program.

Second… it’s actually… fun. You’ll spend a few days getting to know other people from your school and the surrounding schools (e.g. in the Washington D.C. area, there will likely be students from Georgetown, U. Maryland, George Washington, James Madison, Virginia Tech, etc.). These may end up being your future colleagues, so you’ll want to get to know as many people as you can!

How do I apply for PwC Elevate?

If you’re a qualified candidate, meaning:

• You have a MINIMUM 3.0 GPA (which really should be closer to 3.5 to have a realistic chance)
• You haven’t completed a PwC internship or participated in Elevate in the past
• You’re a sophomore / 2nd year in a four-year program or a junior / 3rd year in a five-year program

Be sure to also visit your career center website to see if PwC will be conducting interviews for the Elevate Program. Selected candidates will participate in a recruitment process including interviews and interactions with a PwC partner or principal, client service manager, and/or recruiter.

What is the PwC Elevate interview process?

If selected to interview for Elevate, you’ll typically go through two rounds – which may be a mix of in-person/virtual via Google Hangouts. You’ll likely also be invited for a pre-interview dinner with other candidates, associates, and members of the firm.

Virtual interview tip: download and TEST Google Hangouts at least 24 hours before your interview. Buy a computer headset so you don’t have issues with voice quality. You don’t want to show up 10 minutes late because of a technical glitch or have to fumble around with your microphone during the interview.

The actual interview will focus primarily on “behavioral” type questions. Be prepared to succinctly walk through your resume and highlight areas of leadership, teamwork, and overcoming obstacles. Make sure you do a few practice / mock interviews at your career center, and try to work on coming across as personable.

Remember the “airport test” – would the person interviewing you want to be stuck in an airport with you during a flight delay? Yes, PwC is looking for smart, talented, and hard-working people to join the firm. On top of that, though, you need to be personable and able to make connections with your colleagues and clients. Try to turn each question into a conversation point rather than spewing back a robotic, unenthusiastic response.

How you deliver your answers is just as important as what you say. Don’t say you “work well in teams” – provide an example of a time you were on a team and how you helped the team overcome an obstacle. Your example can be a sports team, school project team, volunteering team, etc. Don’t say that you have great attention to detail, show your attention to detail by making sure your resume is flawless.

Some sample interview questions you’ll likely see:

• Walk me through your resume / tell me about yourself
• Why do you want to participate in Elevate
• Tell me about a time when you had to solve a problem
• Tell me about a time you had to overcome an obstacle

If you’d like to learn more on how to ace a PwC behavioral interview, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide, complete with questions you should anticipate AND sample answers.

Learn more

Interested in learning more about PwC’s Elevate program? Head over to the career site for additional resources and videos.